White for Suffrage, Red for Riots

By Emily Knapp

 

Crack.

watch as we fracture.
shards of a broken union
used as weapons and
knives

(get out)
(we don’t want you)

heavy hearts as
women burn in India and
reds/yellows/greys
paint the streets of Paris.

We are all

fighting we are all

mad

stealing back our stars and
ripping our stripes

preservation

in the name of
democracy.

We are waiting for change.

For now,
we must navigate the slush.

And wait.

 


Emily Knapp is a native of the Chicagoland area, but fled West because she really likes seeing the sun in February. Her apartment currently resides in Denver, but you can find her in the mountains, writing, hiking, or skiing. This particular poem is in response to the New Yorker article titled, “The Impeachment Hearings and the Coming Storm.”

Photo credit: Jennifer Boyer via a Creative Commons license.